Simon Says Stamp Blog!

Sunday, December 30, 2012

More Hero Arts Goodness with Britta Swiderski!

Hi there to all you NEON lovers! I have a really cool card made by the fabulous and super sweet Britta Swiderski! For the complete tutorial and how-to of how to make this card, be sure to visit her blog here!

We are still celebrating the release of the 2013 Hero Arts collection, and hope you are too, because there are LOTS of amazing product to see!!

It was total pure coincidence that she used my FAVORITE colors for this cool neon color mixing technique! Don't you just love it?

To make your own, grab the ingredients below:

I love how she combined neon pink & neon blue in this really cool "double stamping" technique to make a really pretty purple! Based on Britta's experimenting, she found some other really cool color combinations to try with "double stamping". Be sure to check out her blog for full details!

Thanks for reading today!

Steph

Blog Candy Alert! Join our following and comment on this blog post for a chance to win the not for resale Hero Arts stamp set pictured below! The winner will be announced soon, good luck!

Saturday, December 29, 2012

Will You Be Our Valentine?

Hi Bloggers! Happy Saturday to you! As we brace for some more winter weather in Columbus, Ohio, we begin thinking about that LOVELY holiday to come in the second month of the new year! Yes, that's right, I'm talking about Valentine's Day! Here at Simon Says Stamp, we are celebrating with lots of beautiful new releases from our exclusive line!

To celebrate these new releases, we have a special GORGEOUS card by the very lovely and talented Jana Millen! Isn't it adorable? Thanks, Jana!

To make your own version, be sure to check out these ingredients:

We have 6 brand new stamp sets! I've highlighted my favorite below, but let's be honest, they're all fabulous!

Shop the new stamps below:

We have 10 brand new dies! There are so many great ones, and even though there is a definite love theme, we all need love all year round, right?! I picked "Falling Hearts" as my favorite die, because, let's face it, there's no feeling quite like falling in love is there? :)

Shop all of the new dies below:

Finally, we have 4 new sets that we liked to call 'Perfect Match' sets! We call them this because the dies are made to coordinate perfectly with the stamp sets! Pretty cool, huh? To give you more of an idea of what I'm talking about, below are Perfect Match sets combined! (Die & Stamp Set)

Loving Words (pictured above)

Plenty of Hearts (pictured above)

Expressions for You (pictured above)
Shop the Perfect Matches Below:

Thanks for reading today!

Blog Candy Alert! Please join our following and comment on this blog for a special exclusive Simon Says Stamp Goodie Parcel! The winner will be announced soon, good luck!

Steph

Friday, December 28, 2012

The Crafter's Workshop Stencils with May Flaum!

I love stencils - most especially The Crafter's Workshop stencils! As we prepare for the new year I wanted to take a few minutes to share with you my top 10 favorites, as well as a few ways I like to use them.

My top 10 stencils:

I love how easy they are to use - and with so many mediums I can create all kinds of custom creations. Here you can see that I used them with distress ink and a blending tool - this is my favorite thing to do when I want all-over color.

Want more of a splattered look? Well then, I break out my mists and play!

Don't forget that you can also use the stencil itself and 'stamp' in addition to use up that excess spray after misting. You can also layer stencils over each other - just make sure each time you let it dry totally so you don't end up with a muddy look.

Of course it doesn't have to be messy looking - but I'm having so much fun making a big mess that I'm going to just keep playing wild and make a new card.

'Tis the season for thank you cards, after all! I took the ideas I was working with and combined them onto a card!

To finish things off I did some messy stitching, and I also used black embossing powder and my favorite letter stamps to add some texture and detail as well.

Whether you want to get super messy or just add a bit of detail to a background stencils are a lot of fun - and a great way to use up your liquid mediums from inks to sprays to pastes and gel mediums too. I did a big round-up post of my dylusions posts here, I did a tag with multi-medium resist here, and here is a link to a post I did with inks and the peacock stencil. I'm always playing with stencils - and I encourage you to break some out and try them in the new year!

Happy Crafting!
May Flaum

Congrats Blog Candy Winner!
From: Gorgeous January Card Kit Inspiration: Meghan!
Please email Steph@SimonSaysStamp.com with your address and the name of the blog you won from to claim your prize!

Thursday, December 27, 2012

Selective Embossing with DIY Diffuser

Hi all! Kristina here. :)

Did you notice how the little bunny has embossing around him? I was able to leave the area around the bunny untouched by using a diffuser. For an easy to use diffuser, you can try the Tim Holtz Diffusers, but I wanted the non-embossed area to be lower on the card so I created my own diffuser for when I embossed the cardstock with Spellbinders' Simplicity embossing folder.

Be sure to watch the video below to see how to use a diffuser. I also explain how I made it using 6 sheets of 120# Ultra Thick Cardstock (really just one and a half sheets since I cut them down). You can use chipboard or other thick materials for the diffuser as well. The key is to experiment and see what works best for you. :)

I colored in the cute bunny stamp from Paper Smooches with Inktense pencils. To add the goofy eyes, I used Ranger Enamel Accents.

Watch video below | Watch at YouTube

InLinkz.com

Wednesday, December 26, 2012

Gorgeous January Card Kit Inspiration!

Hi bloggers! I hope you all had a very wonderful and happy Christmas surrounded by all those that you love most!!

I can hardly believe it's already almost JANUARY! With that in mind, have you taken a moment to view our January Card Kit?! It's packed full of gorgeous goodies to make lots of cards and even embellish your scrapbooks too!

I was very inspired by this gorgeous card by Stephanie Klauck. Just look at this fun masterpiece she made using the January Card Kit!!

To make your own version of this beauty above be sure to check out the following ingredients:

To see the step by step of how to make this card, please be sure to stop by Stephanie's blog HERE for a fantastic video to show you how!

Thanks for reading today!!

Congrats to Blog Candy Winners:
From: Simon Says Merry Christmas: Cassie_lu!
From: Gorgeous Exclusives with Beate Johns: sara!
From: 12 Tilda's of Christmas 2012! (Part 4): ivy!
From: Superior Scrapbooking Layouts featuring Kelly Purkey Stamps: Nancy L!

Please email me (Steph@SimonSaysStamp.com) with the name of the blog you won from and your address to claim your prize!

Blog Candy Alert! Please join our following and comment on this blog for a special SURPRISE parcel (I promise, it'll be good! ;)) The winner will be announced soon, good luck!

Steph

Tuesday, December 25, 2012

Merry Everything!

❄ From all of us at Simon Says Stamp,
we wish you a very merry Christmas! ❄

Hi all! Kristina here with another (and most likely my last for this year) holiday card. No video today, but I'll be back on Thursday with the usual video. :)

Today's card features the Merry Everything stamp set, Tim Holtz Mini Snowflakes dies, and the Spellbinders Winter Wonders M-Bossabilities folder. I also used Butter Mints cardstock for the card base and the snowflake. Butter Mints is a soft cream color from Bazzill. Just enough to warm up this card. :)

Once again, Merry Christmas!